Meet Krystal Bernal | Pastry Chef & Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Krystal Bernal and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Krystal, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
Hello everyone! I am Krystal Bernal, proud owner and pastry chef of Bake It Krystal, LLC. I was born and raised in the southeast side of San Antonio TX. I lived with both of my parents and my older sister. My parents always enforce a never give up attitude, always finish what you started and make good choices type of parenting to us. Although we struggled from time to time and moved a lot, my parents still showered us with all the love they could give. I did not grow up with bakers or business owners in my family. So it was really hard for me to really believe that my dreams could come true. One person that inspiration me was Duff Goldman from Ace of Cakes on The Food Network channel. He had a custom cake business and I was always fascinated with the way they made their cake ideas come to life. As a kid, I was able to look at an image and draw it out and I thought I was pretty good at it. So once I realized I was able to create art and serve it on a cake that someone would be overly happy with. I knew I wanted that to be something I did as an adult. My parents have always encouraged me to go to college or to the military to find a way out. But I wanted to go to school to learn how to bake. So I went to culinary/baking and pastry school. I did not think my parents thought I was serious. I would talk to my parents about starting a business when I grew up & they encourages me by describing how great it would be. “To be your own boss, to take vacations when you wanted to.” My parents would say. And that was all the encouragement I needed, but I didn’t realize how hard it would actually be. While attending baking and pastry school I looked up to all my instructors and chefs. My passion to succeed and graduate college was so strong that no matter how much I wanted to give up I couldn’t. I had finally accomplished getting my Associates Degree in Baking and Pastry Arts in 2018. After that accomplished I was finally able to believe that this dream is possible. After 6 months had passed, I decided to move to Houston TX and start a small business. Every since then, I have been able to grow on my skills providing amazing desserts and cakes. I also been able to grow my small business by attending Markets throughout Houston TX. It has really been a journey so far, to see where I came from and how far I’ve gone. I am so grateful for all the Houstonian love and support I received this pass year. I really am so excited to see where my dreams can take me.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Here at Bake It Krystal we love to create custom cakes. Our clients love to challenge us by bringing a different an unique cake idea and putting us to the test. You can see some of our work on our Instagram page @bakeitkrystal. We started out attending markets selling cookies and cake slices individually. As each season changed, we changed our menu theme to different items such as parfaits, cookies, sugar cookies, and now pan dulce. Each parfait is made up of cake and whipped cream and toppings. They were so yummy. We also made decorated sugar cookies to the theme of our markets. Our pan dulce boxes contain a variety of Mexican sweet bread including conchas, cuernitos, elotes, Puerto Rican sweet rolls, polvorones cookies, Mexican pink cake, chocolate chip cookies, and now with the season of Fall we have added pumpkin spice rolls and pan de muerto. Being a pastry chef, I did not want to limit my menu to one thing I want my clients to know we can make almost any desserts they want. Like any other business the start up was not easy. Moving cities and having to create a new clientele has been a challenge but thanks to social media and attending markets we have now grown greatly.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
During the week I would love to take them to the Galleria area and mall to explore all the great stores. I would also take them to Washington area for some awesome time at the bars. By the weekend, I would take them to almost any Pop up Markets in the area. Where they can find almost anything from food, drinks, crafts, cloths and more. They would have so much fun and get to see a bunch of cool stuff and meet some nice people.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to thank my family for always encouraging me to grow. I would also like to thank the chefs and instructors at St. Philips College for showing me possibilities. I want to thank my mentors I have came across that showed me easy and fast decorating techniques. Last but not least, I would like to thank my partner in life for always being there for me and putting as much effort towards my small business as I would myself. Thank you to all the people who support small, local businesses.

Instagram: @bakeitkrystal

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/krystal.bernal.71